


Remembering

by Missanna444



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Temporary Amnesia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-07
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-09-22 13:51:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9610202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missanna444/pseuds/Missanna444
Summary: While working on a case with Mulder, Scully gets injured and ends up forgetting that she ever worked on the X-Files. As she undergoes therapy to get her memories back, Mulder is there to comfort her and to try and win back the woman he loves.





	1. Accident

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, yeah, amnesia is cliche, I know. I also don't care, this idea is hella cute. Fluff and angst ahead! Comments and feedback are greatly appreciated.

**Boston, Massachusetts, February 18th, 2:45am**

“Isn’t this just your favorite part of this job?” Mulder said in a joking tone, breaking the silence that had settled between them. He and Scully were sitting in the car, waiting outside of an apartment building. They were watching for a suspect, hoping that he would leave the apartment and they could catch him. 

 

“Yes, Mulder, I love sitting out here at--” she glanced at the clock. “-- 2:45am on a February morning.” Scully’s tone was sarcastic, as it often was when the circumstances of their job were less than comfortable. 

 

“Well, from the reports we’ve been getting, it seems like he always leaves his apartment at 3:00am to take the trash out. We can use that chance to follow him inside.”

 

“That early? Every morning? Who has anything to throw out that early, especially on such a consistent basis?” 

 

“A man who tests alien technology on rats and has to dispose of the dead rodents each night.” Mulder replied with his usual certain tone. He counted out the seconds until Scully responded.  _ 3… 2… 1… _

 

“Mulder, that’s insane.” She said. He smiled slightly, finding it amusing that they’d become so familiar with each other by then that they could predict exactly what the other was going to say and when they’d say it. 

 

“It might be insane, Scully, but it’s true. And we’re here to catch him.” Mulder explained. Scully desperately fought the urge to roll her eyes. 

 

“Alright, then…” she said and glanced at the clock again. “Only 2:50. Can you turn up the heater a little bit? It’s freezing in here and we’ve still got some time…”

 

“I could think of some other ways to keep warm…” Mulder replied with a slight smirk, but obliged and turned up the heater when all Scully did was glare daggers at him.

 

“You’re choosing now as a time to flirt? Really?” She asked him. 

 

“What? The moment felt right!”

 

“This moment? Right now? While we’re in the middle of an assignment for work?” 

 

“Oh, come on, lighten up a little--” He glanced at her to realize that she was looking past him and out the window behind him. “Scully, what is it?” 

 

“Our suspect, Mulder, he’s leaving the apartment. Five minutes early.”

 

Without another thought, both of them got out of the car to follow the suspect into the alleyway. They quietly followed him, trying to maintain some element of surprise. When the suspect turned and caught sight of him, he ran up the fire escape to get back to his apartment. Mulder and Scully immediately chased him up the rickety metal steps.

 

“We’re F.B.I.! Stop and put your hands behind your head!” Scully shouted as they tried to corner him. All he did was move faster. Barely able to keep up, Mulder fired a warning shot to scare the man into stopping. But, he didn’t stop. At least, they weren’t sure if he did. Instead, he turned invisible. 

 

“Where did he go?” Scully asked, her eyes analyzing the spot where the man had just been standing. Mulder lifted a finger to his lips to indicate for her to be quiet so he could listen. There were heavy footsteps against the stairs and Mulder shot in that direction. The footsteps got closer at an alarmingly quick pace. Both agents shot towards the sound, but nothing hit. Whatever the force was, it was speeding towards them and they couldn’t stop it. Feeling the rush of wind from the moving invisible man -- creature? --, Scully stepped forward to block it from hitting Mulder. By pushing him out of the way, however, she was in its way and didn’t have enough time to move. She felt something pierce her shoulder and the unseen force shove her. Losing her balance, she tumbled over the edge of the railing. Wide eyed, Mulder reached out to grab her hand, but only reached her in time to feel her fingers slip out of his reach. 

 

“Scully!” He called out, watching in fear as she hit the ground with a sickening  _ thud _ . “Shit.” He muttered as he sprinted down the stairs, two at a time. He was immediately by her side. 

 

“Scully… Scully, are you okay? Come on, please answer me… Tell me how dumb of a question that was. Say, ‘I fell from two stories up, Mulder, of course I’m not okay.’ Just… move or  _ something _ . Please…” He checked her pulse. Her heart was beating, thankfully. He quickly grabbed his phone and called an ambulance. While he waited, he carefully checked her for any visible wounds. The top right part of her jacket was soaked in blood. Mulder carefully moved her shirt away to find what looked like a bullet wound in her shoulder. Not deep, thankfully, but it was there. The only people shooting were himself and Scully. How did the bullet get there, then? He’d have to figure that out later, he realized as the siren from the ambulance could be heard a block away. He gently cradled her head in his lap.  _ She's going to be fine… she's going to be fine…she’s going to be… fine. _

  
  


**Boston Memorial Hospital, February 18th, 7:00am**

 

Mulder had spent the last four hours pacing in the hospital waiting room. All he knew was that Scully was in the ICU. That was it, nobody was telling him anything. He was a nervous wreck. This wasn't the first time Scully had been put in intensive care, but something about this felt different. Finally, a doctor came out to speak with him. 

 

“Fox Mulder?” The man asked, approaching him. 

 

“Yes, that's me. How is she? Is she going to survive?” Mulder asked immediately. 

 

“She's stable for now. She lost a lot of blood because of the wound, but she should be okay.” 

 

“Oh, thank goodness.” Mulder sighed with relief. The doctor, however, didn't seem to share his feelings. 

 

“There's still a problem, though. The fall may have caused her severe head trauma. We don't know what will happen when she wakes up. Amnesia is possible. I just want you to be aware of that if you're with her when she wakes up.” 

 

Mulder just nodded, numb. “Can I see her?” 

 

“Are you family?” 

 

“I'm close enough to be her family.” 

 

“Well, seeing as her real family isn't here yet… go ahead.” 

 

Mulder thanked him and quietly walked into the room where Scully was. There was a chair beside her bed and he sat down. She looked terrible. There was a bandage on her shoulder, and one on her head as well. She had bruises and scratches everywhere, from what Mulder could see. She looked peaceful in her sleep, and that seemed to be somewhat reassuring. Her hand that was closest to him, her left hand, seemed to be mostly unharmed. He took her hand gently in his. 

 

“Hi, Scully… it's me. It's Mulder. I hope you're going to be okay. I know you will be. I love you. You know I do. And… I don't want to lose you. If I do, though, I know I won't regret any of the days that we've had together. All the times you proved me wrong, all the times your skepticism saved my ass… I certainly won't regret loving you, especially since I had at least a few weeks with you before this happened…” He sighed softly. “But please don't leave me, Scully… I don't know what I'd do without seeing you everyday… without our playful banter on the long car rides, without… without everything we have.” 

 

He fell silent after that. He didn't know what he really expected to happen. Maybe nothing would happen. He still held her hand in his as he dozed off in the chair. 

 

**9:00am**

 

Mulder was startled awake as he felt Scully's hand move against his. 

 

“Scully?” He murmured, sitting up. Her eyes opened slowly and she looked up at him, a puzzled look on her face. She pulled away, as if his touch scared her. 

 

“Who…?” She said weakly. 

 

“It's me, Scully. It's Mulder.” He said, his heart racing both because she was finally awake and in fear of her not remembering him. 

 

“I don’t… I don’t know a Mulder… Weird name…” she muttered and sat up a little.

 

“Careful… You’re pretty injured right now…” was all Mulder could muster, his head spinning. Scully gave him another confused look and began to look at the room around her, fear filling her blue eyes. She began to panic, seeing nothing she recognized. 

 

“Where… where am I?” 

 

“You’re at the hospital in Boston.”

 

“Boston? I don’t live in Boston.” She stated, her face showing that she didn’t quite trust him.

 

“We were on a case, Scully. I’ll have Skinner explain it to you later.”

 

“Skinner? What would Assistant Director Skinner want with me? I just teach at the F.B.I. Academy.” Her eyes narrowed and she got a better look at Mulder. “You… you’re Spooky Mulder. I mean, that’s what they call you. What are you doing here? I’m sure we’ve never met.” 

 

“Actually, we have. You see--” He was stopped by a nurse who had just walked in.

 

“Visiting hours are over.”

 

“They end at noon.”

  
“Well, they’re over now, we need to run some tests now that she’s awake.” the nurse pointed out. With a grumble, Mulder squeezed Scully’s hand gently, then let go and got up to leave. Scully watched him leave, all the more confused about what was going on. 


	2. Thinking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this chapter is a little short, I'll make sure the next one is a bit longer! I'm busy with rehearsals and things for a play, so I can't post every day. Thank you for the comments on the first chapter, I'm glad you guys liked it!

**Boston Memorial Hospital, February 20th, 4:00pm**

 

It had been two days since Scully had woken up, two days since the accident. She was recovering quickly, but her memories were still missing. 

 

“Mulder, you are not telling her anything. That's an order.” Skinner told him as they stood in the hallway. “She's being discharged from the hospital tomorrow and you're driving her back to D.C., but you are not to say anything about your work together.”

 

“With all due respect, sir, she needs to know.” Mulder said, thinking of all the happiness they'd had lately that they'd suddenly lost. He wanted that back. 

 

“She will know, Agent Mulder, but not from you. When she gets back home, she'll be going through treatment and therapy to regain her memories. Your job is simply to comfort her when times get tough. You do realize the seriousness of this situation, I hope?” 

 

“Yes, and that's why I need to be the one to tell her and to help her understand--” 

 

“No. You're going to be reckless about this. You want her back, I know. But she needs to remember things slowly and she needs you by her side. Protest all you want, but remember what she's been through. At the moment, she doesn't know that her father is dead. She doesn't know that she was abducted. She doesn't know her sister was shot. She doesn't know about the cases you two investigated that were difficult on her that first time. She doesn't know she had cancer. She has to go through all of that again. All you can do is be a shoulder for her to lean on.”

 

Mulder sighed and nodded. “Alright, alright…” He knew Skinner was right, he just had an overwhelming feeling to try and make things okay again. Mulder had always been a man of action, however reckless it may be. He always wanted to fix things immediately, never one for patience, especially in a situation where someone important to him was unhappy or in danger. But he knew that this process had to happen slowly. 

 

**February 21st, 8:00am**

 

An hour ago, Scully had been discharged from the hospital and Mulder was in charge of driving her back to D.C. While he was glad to be with her, the car ride was long and painful. Scully was quiet for the most part. She could tell that there was something he wasn’t telling her. She could tell in the way that he acted and spoke around her, far too careful than any person would be. Of course, there was likely a reason for that. From what she had gathered, there was a lot she didn’t know, a lot that she no longer remembered. And, judging by the way everyone treated her, the things she didn’t remember were things that nobody wanted to have the duty of telling her. She silently contemplated this during the long drive. They had almost crossed the border into Maryland when she finally spoke. 

 

“Can I tell you something?” She said quietly. Mulder glanced over at her, then nodded. 

 

“Yeah,of course.” 

 

“And you’ll keep it between us?” 

 

“You can trust me, Scully.” 

 

“I’m afraid, Mulder.” She said quietly, not looking at him. She’d known him for only a few days, to her knowledge, she didn’t know why she was opening up to him so easily. But, some part of her mind told her that they’d opened up to each other many times before. She could trust him.

 

“What are you scared of? Everything’s going to be okay. You’ll get your memories, your life will go back to normal…” He said, though he knew her life had never been normal since she had been sent to debunk his work. 

 

“That’s what I’m scared of. I’m terrified of what those memories hold for me. I looked in the mirror when I was in the bathroom at that rest stop on the highway a few hours ago. I almost didn’t recognize myself.”

 

Mulder was quiet, unsure of how to respond, so Scully continued. 

 

“Last time I remember seeing my reflection, while working at the F.B.I. Academy, my hair was much longer, a little less red. My face was a little rounder, a little younger. I didn’t even recognize my own eyes. They’re still the same color, of course, but… they used to look so innocent. I never realized it, but they did. But looking in the mirror now… my eyes look ancient, like the eyes of a woman who’s cried too much, who’s seen too much and knows too much. Yet, I don’t have the slightest idea what that woman has seen.” She turned her head to look at Mulder. “It scares me to know that I might find out what I’ve seen that caused me to look so… sad.” 

 

Mulder didn’t speak, but he reached over and took one of her hands in his. A friendly gesture, that’s all it was. Still, it was comforting. 


	3. First Memory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figured you guys needed some fluff before it gets really angsty. Thank you for the comments and continued support!

**F.B.I. Headquarters, Washington, D.C., February 25th, 9:00am**

 

Four days since Scully had returned to D.C., four days since she’d started therapy to gain her memories back. She sat in the room of the psychologist at the Bureau, for her fourth session. Part of her was afraid this wouldn’t work, and part of her was afraid it would. The psychologist started the session. As instructed, the psychologist never mentioned anything that had actually happened to Scully that she couldn’t remember. Instead, he tried to guide her to remembering those things, in chronological order, of course. Until that day, though, they hadn’t yet made a breakthrough and she remembered nothing. 

 

“Now, since the accident, you’ve met and spoken with Agent Fox Mulder. Did anything about him seem familiar to you?” The psychologist, Dr. Collins, asked her. 

 

“Everything seemed familiar, but none of it actually triggered any memories.” Scully replied, already anticipating where the conversation was going. 

 

“Be specific. What about him was familiar?” Dr. Collins pressed.

 

“I don’t know, exactly, maybe just the way he spoke. His mannerisms. No matter what he was talking about, he always seemed so sure, as if he believed it. Even if he was unsure of something, he was confident in what he did know.” Scully said, thinking out loud by now. 

 

“Interesting. Perhaps these particular mannerisms are ones you recognize subconsciously. Think about these things that seem familiar. Close your eyes if you must, and just let yourself think about everything over the past few days. Think about everything he’s said since you saw him for the first time. Let the memories in, don’t block them out.” 

 

Scully did as she was told, mentally immersing herself in the things about Mulder that had made him seem like she’d known him forever, all the things that made her think he was trustworthy. Just as she felt that memories might start to come back, there was a knock at the door. The knock sounded like Mulder’s. How did she know that? She’d never heard him knock on a door in the past few days. 

 

“Nobody here but the F.B.I.’s most unwanted.” Scully called in answer to the knock at the door, in a tone that sounded as if it was some inside joke she had with Mulder, as if she knew it would make him laugh. The door opened and Mulder’s head poked through. 

 

“You come up with that one on your own?” He teased, momentarily forgetting the situation. 

 

“You said that to me, once. Seven years ago. When we first met, I think.” Scully replied, a surprised look on her face. 

 

“Scully… I said that to you when--”

 

“When I knocked on the door of your office in the basement… That was your response.” She said, a hint of awe in her voice. As she spoke, she became more certain of the truth her words held. 

 

“And since then, that office has been ours, not just mine.” Mulder told her quietly, stepping into the room and gently shutting the door behind him. 

 

“And yet, I still don’t have my own desk.” Scully pointed out, her response as sarcastic as ever. 

 

“You remember some of it, don’t you?” He asked her with a slight smile. 

 

“Just fragments, but… it’s starting to piece together. All I really remember in full is meeting you, that first conversation we had. I thought you were crazy back then. I mean, seriously, Mulder. Alien abductions?”

 

“And you don’t think I’m crazy now?”

 

“Oh, no, I know you’re crazy now.” She laughed. Mulder smiled. It was refreshing to hear her laugh. She hardly laughed anymore, before the accident. She had such a contagious laugh, Mulder couldn’t help but chuckle softly. He was so in love with her, he always had been. 

 

“What is it, Mulder?” Scully asked after a moment. 

 

“Hm?” He asked, snapping out of his thoughts. 

 

“You’re looking at me weirdly. Is something wrong?”

 

“No, no. Of course not. I’m just happy for you, that’s all. I’m glad you’re starting to remember things.” He smiled. “Anyways, I should probably go, so that you can finish this session.”

 

“Actually, we’re done for now. Since we’ve made a bit of a breakthrough, it would be best not to overwhelm Agent Scully.” Dr. Collins said. 

 

“Would it be alright if she went back into our office? Just to look around a little?” Mulder asked. 

 

“Yes, I suppose so. Just don’t show her any case files or anything that might trigger any bad memories.” Dr. Collins told him. Mulder nodded. 

 

“So, what do you say, Scully? Want to visit the office?” He asked, turning to the woman he still considered his partner. 

 

“Sure, Mulder. I’d like to see it, actually.” She nodded, standing up from where she had been sitting on the couch. He smiled and led her out the door. 

 

“So, the office really is in the basement?” Scully asked as they walked. 

 

“Yep. That wasn’t a joke. The F.B.I. doesn’t like the X-Files and store them all in the basement. So, I figured, why not put a desk down there?” He explained. 

 

“Well, considering I was originally assigned to debunk your work, I can’t say I’m surprised.” She shrugged.

  
“You make a fair point.” He said as he opened the door to their basement office.


	4. The Necklace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, the chapter before this was to give you all a tiny bit of fluff before she started getting all the bad memories back... And, with that, I apologize for the angst ahead. Oh, and don't forget to comment, I appreciate feedback!

**Dana Scully’s Apartment, April 16th, 7:30pm**

 

Two months. It had now been almost two months since Scully had gotten her first memory back. By now, some things were clear and some still frustratingly fuzzy. Yet, everything so far seemed manageable. It was sometimes like something out of a vague nightmare, lying in bed night after night, remembering small details about each of their cases. Some nights, she resisted the urge to call Mulder, to ask him questions or to simply hear his voice for a few minutes. His voice had always had some sort of calming quality to it, even when they’d first known each other. Yes, she still thought he was crazy half of the time, but his voice was always steady. She didn’t really remember it any other way. Well, from what she  _ could _ remember. It was different now, the remembering. It had started as something that only happened when she was deeply focused during a therapy session. Now, though, she began to remember bits and pieces when she was home. Or anywhere else, for that matter. It practically terrified her, the thought of being home by herself when she’d remember something that she didn’t want to remember. When she’d remembered her father’s death, she had been alone. She’d been at home, looking through her bookshelf for something to read. One of the books, given to her by her father, triggered a set of memories connected to his death. Instead of waiting until she could process the information, she went to her mother’s house. She cried the whole night, feeling the loss of her father once again. It was heart-wrenching. Yet, somehow, she knew it would only get worse from there. And she was right.

 

One night, she sat in her apartment, some memories coming back to her in small pieces. It wasn’t until the name Duane Barry entered her mind that she was at all concerned. But even with the memories surrounding him gone, his name still terrorized her mind. Subconsciously, she couldn’t forget him or what he did. Now, as soon as she thought of his name, every sound she heard made her nervous. Not wanting to be alone anymore, she picked up her phone and dialed the first number that came to mind. 

 

“Hello?”

 

“Mulder? It’s me.” Scully said quietly, trying to hide the anxiousness in her voice. Mulder, on the other hand, knew her better than she realized and quickly recognized her tone of voice.

 

“Is everything okay, Scully?” He asked carefully, fully aware of what he expected to hear. 

 

“I… Can you just come over, please?” She asked. Mulder blinked, surprised to not hear the usual rendition of ‘I’m fine, Mulder.’ Sure, she didn’t give any sort of explanation, but she also didn’t claim to be fine. 

 

“Yeah… Yeah, of course. I’ll be right there.” He said and hung up. Not wanting her to have to wait too long, he immediately left. He picked up a pizza on the way, then headed straight for Scully’s apartment. Upon arriving, he quietly knocked on the door.

 

Scully was so lost in her thoughts that she almost forgot Mulder was coming over. When she heard the knock on the door, she stiffened. She then relaxed a little, remembering it was just Mulder. She got up from where she was sitting and walked over to the door and opened it.

 

“Mulder… hi.” She said quietly. “You brought pizza? You didn’t have to do that…” 

 

“I figured I might as well bring some. Nothing better for comfort than good pizza, right?” He said as she let him inside. 

 

“Mulder, I’m--”

 

“Don’t say it. You always say it, but you really don’t look fine right now.”   
  


“Mulder,” she started to scold him, but the concern in his dark eyes made her a little less frustrated with him. She had to get used to the idea of not isolating herself all the time. “Thank you for the pizza.” She said finally. Mulder smiled slightly and handed her a plate with a slice of pizza on it, and the two went to sit on the couch. As Scully sat down, her hand automatically went to the cross necklace she always wore around her neck, out of nervous habit. Then she suddenly froze, her eyes widening. Mulder turned to ask her a question, then stopped, seeing her face. 

 

“Scully? What’s wrong?” He asked, turning to face her, his hand gently touching her shoulder in concern. Not thinking straight enough to shake him off like she usually did, she just looked at him. 

 

“Mulder… A memory just came back… Or, it’s coming back now… I’m not sure.”

 

“What is it? What are you remembering?” He asked. She hadn’t briefed him on what she knew in a week or so, so he didn’t even realize that she’d gotten so close to remembering her abduction. 

 

“Duane Barry… I remembered his name today… Not much else. But that isn’t all… I was just thinking about my necklace and… The image that came to my mind was you giving it back to me…” She looked at him, fairly shocked that she would have been without it in the first place. If there was a situation where she didn’t have it, she knew something bad must’ve happened. “When didn’t I have this? Why did you have to give it to me? What happened with Duane Barry, Mulder?” 

 

“I shouldn’t tell you this…” Mulder began, and it turned out that he didn’t have to tell her. The memories came back faster and stronger than they had before. He watched as she seemed paralyzed with fear. At first, he didn’t know what to do or how to comfort her. This was so beyond the realm of anything they’d been through. Her hand reached out for his, grasping the air desperately until his hand gently held hers. She broke out of her trance moments later and let go of his hand. Her elbows rested on her knees and her face was buried in her hands. For once in her life, she didn’t even try to stifle the tears, she simply began to sob. A whirlwind of emotions coursed through her, confusion, anger, fear, and everything in between. She let Mulder take her into his arms, soon crying into his shirt instead of her hands. 

 

“Oh my God…” she hiccuped, swallowing back a sob. “Shit…” 

 

“Scully… Do you remember?” Mulder asked carefully, trying to gauge what she was feeling. 

 

“Abduction… The abduction…” she whispered softly. In truth, she never remembered much of the abduction itself. She remembered Duane Barry kidnapping her and keeping her in the trunk of that awful car. She remembered him taking her up to Sky Summit where the abduction happened. And then she remembered waking up, her mother visiting her and telling her how crazy and worried Mulder had been while she’d been gone. “I almost died…” She realized out loud.

 

“You  _ almost _ died. But you didn’t. Somehow, you struggled through it and came back to us.” Mulder clarified. “And that’s when I gave you back your necklace.” He said. She looked up at him, as if trying to find the answers in the emotions on his face. 

 

“Mulder… You were there. You stayed with me sometimes, when they’d let you see me.” 

 

“How’d you know that? You weren’t awake when all that happened.” 

 

“When my mom came to visit me after I woke up that day… she told me everything. She was very particular about mentioning how worried you’d been the whole time. I can’t imagine why she felt that was so important…” She muttered, as if it was unimportant. And, for the moment, it was. Their personal relationship didn’t matter right now, and Mulder was sensible enough not to bring up his feelings right then. Instead, he held her tight the rest of the night, as nightmares and new, terrible memories plagued her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next few chapters, I'll be writing the chapters where she deals with Donnie Pfaster and Melissa's death (whatever order those go in, I can't remember at this very moment). Wish me luck. As you can guess, most of the chapters from here on out will be angsty. Some fluff, but mostly angst.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it took so long to update this! Netflix doesn't have the episodes anymore, so I can't watch the episodes before I write each chapter! I'll try to update this more often, though!

**Mulder’s apartment, April 23rd, 2:04pm**

 

“Mulder, hurry up! We’re going to be late!” Scully called through the door as Mulder finished getting ready. In the midst of all the chaos that was going on, Mulder had asked Scully to a movie, in hopes that it would give her a chance to relax for a couple of hours. Though confused by his offer, as she’d never known them to hang out together outside of work, she’d agreed to go. Now, she stood outside of Mulder’s apartment, waiting. His inability to leave on time seemed familiar to her. 

 

“Mulder, come on--!” She was cut off by the opening of his door. 

 

“I’m right here, Scully. Sorry about that, I fell asleep on the couch earlier. The paperwork from last night’s case was really not that entertaining.” He tried to joke, but she just rolled her eyes at him. 

 

“You didn’t finish the paperwork? Mulder, we can’t have any leisure time until we do that!” She told him and pushed past him into his apartment. She saw the papers on his coffee table and sat down on the couch. 

 

“Scully, what are you--?” His eyes widened when he saw the files she was looking at. 

 

“We can go to a later showing of the movie, it’ll be fine-- Mulder, what files are these? These aren’t yesterday’s case… I don’t even recognize these files.” She said, looking at him, puzzled. The truth was, she did recognize the files. There was a name in them that struck fear in her bones, though she hadn’t quite figured out why. “Mulder, why do you have these?”

 

“Well, I just…” He sighed, sitting down next to her, gently taking the files from her hands. “Scully, I just wanted to go over this particular case before… Before you remembered it.” 

 

“Whose file is this?” She asked, trying to get a look at it. 

 

“His name was Donnie Pfaster.” Mulder said quietly. There was that feeling of fear again, making Scully nervous.  

 

“Why does it matter if I remember it? What’s wrong?” She asked him. Her tone was less curious and a little more demanding. She didn’t really want to know exactly what had happened, but she knew she needed to find out. When Mulder didn’t say anything, she took the file from him again and began to look through it. 

 

“What…? Why is my name in this?” She asked softly, not sure if she really wanted to know the answer. “Mulder, my name is in this twice and this man just happens to be dead.” She demanded. Once again, Mulder was silent, so she kept reading. “He kidnapped women and-- Oh, my God. Did he--?”

 

“Kidnap you? Yes. But you were, uh, saved both times.” 

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Well, the first time, the police got there before he could hurt you. And he was shot the second time.”   
  


“By whom?”

 

Silence.

 

“Mulder, who shot him?”

 

“You did.” 

 

She stared at him in shock, then slowly sat down on the couch. “Mulder, why didn’t you say something? I mean, this could have been the most traumatic thing to ever happen to me and you didn’t try to prepare me or anything!”

 

“Skinner told me to let you find out on your own. And I am, but I promised that I would be there for you when you eventually did remember. I’m here for you no matter what, Scully.” He told her. The look on his face made it clear that he’d been there for her many times before. She gave a slight nod and he gave her a gentle hug. She immediately found comfort in his arms, just as she had many times before.


End file.
